Arthrodesis is a surgical procedure for artificially inducing joint ossification between two bones. Arthrodesis may be performed to relieve pain in a joint which cannot be managed by more conservative approaches, such as medication, splints, or the like. The typical causes of such pain are fractures which disrupt the joint, and arthritis. Arthrodesis may be performed for fusing damaged, deteriorating, or fractured talus, navicular, cuboid and metatarsal bones foot. Arthrodesis may be used to treat Charcot midfoot deformity, including bone resection and/or osteotomy to reduce deformity.
One solution has been to drive a K-wire in through the affected metatarsal, cuboid, navicular, and possibly the talus bone, crossing multiple joints.
Bone fractures of the mid-foot are difficult to fixate because of the geometry of the bones. For patients with poor quality, soft bone (e.g. Charcot), this problem is exacerbated. It is difficult to maintain the proper alignment of these bones for performing fixation. It is difficult to accurately drill the holes, and manually drilled holes extending from the metatarsal to the talus were not always straight.
Improved methods for mid-foot and distal foot surgery are desired.